Motorists are starting the new year by paying the highest prices for petrol and diesel of the past 3 years according to the RAC. Where the average cost of petrol has risen for the second month running to over 120.11p per litre of unleaded petrol.
This is the highest price seen at the pumps since December 2014 and is largely related to soaring oil prices…
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said the price rises have been driven by the increased cost of oil which has gone up to $66.61 per barrel – its highest since May 2015.
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“December was the month oil reached its highest point for over two and a half years – something which motorists are now feeling the effect of at the pumps,” he said.
Mr Williams said that it was hard to see pump prices getting much cheaper in the early part of 2018.
“Unfortunately, the good times of lower-cost fuel appear to be over and it’s probably now far more likely that we will see them going up as OPEC’s oil production cuts are starting to have the desired effect of reducing the global oil glut and pushing the barrel price higher,”
There was some good news for motorists though, as the closure of the North Sea Forties pipeline did not lead to the price of oil increasing as many analysts had forecast, Mr Williams said.
Images & Quote curtsy of the Independent
